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Middle finger isn't as crucial to throwing a football as a thumb or index finger

If the only hand injury Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford suffered was to his middle finger, he could be in luck and might not be affected too much.

That’s because the mechanics of throwing a football require much less from the middle finger than they do from the thumb and index finger.

“Because you have supporting fingers around it,” said Dr. David J. Chao, an orthopedic surgeon and the San Diego Chargers’ head team physician in 1997-2013. “In some ways, you can make the argument that edge fingers are more important.

“The thumb is two, three edges. It’s the only thing on that side. The index being the edge finger and user-to-guide finger is much more important. So, because the index and ring finger can support around it, it’s not that big of a deal.”

Terry Copacia runs the All-State Quarterback School in Waterford and has worked with more than 10,000 young QBs for more than 35 years. Copacia watched Stafford on television after he suffered the injury in the first quarter of Sunday’s 20-17 win over the Chicago Bears. He could hardly believe how little the injury affected Stafford.

“I know it sounds weird, but had I not seen what I saw yesterday, I didn’t even know what was wrong when we watched the game, either,” Copacia said. “I sort of don’t think it’s going to be as crucial as it would be if it was something like your index or your thumb because it’s rolling from the back finger to the index finger. That’s how it rolls off. That middle one is just sort of in the middle of the process. It’s not the whole thing. That index finger is really the one that’s the last thing off the ball.”

“Every time you dislocate a finger, you tear ligaments,” Chao said, “so that doesn’t make it any worse kind of situation.”

Other outlets speculated Stafford might have a tendon injury. Jene Bramel, a pediatrician and high school team physician who writes about sports injuries for Footballguys.com, tweeted Sunday: “Stafford’s comments about tip-of-finger injury sound more like tendon and small joint. Much tougher to manage than finger joint dislocation.”

If the injury remains confined to the middle finger, Copacia expects Stafford to lose some touch on his throws, but little else. “You’re not going to see that sweet spiral all the time,” he said. “It may not get that perfect spin on the ball that he wants. But there’s a lot of guys who don’t throw it with that perfect spin on every play anyway.

“I think that’s about the only thing. You just don’t have that natural smoothness of middle finger and index finger. Now that middle one is sort of in limbo. He’ll have to compensate with his other fingers.”

Copacia said quarterbacks grip balls with about three-quarters of their full strength, and two advantages for Stafford are his large hands that make it easier to grip the ball and the addition of a glove — like the one he wore Sunday — that would aid his grip even more.

Copacia encourages younger quarterbacks with small hands to use receivers’ gloves to help them grip the ball more easily.

“They can grip the (heck) out of the ball with gloves,” Copacia said. “Obviously what that does is give him a little more grip, and it guides the ball a little better.

“So, I thought it was a great move (for Stafford). Your grip is probably not going to be as secure, but it’ll definitely help.”